Indonesia raises security alert to highest level

Jakarta (VNA) – Major cities and regions in Indonesia, including Jakarta capital, Riau islands, East Java and Bali island, have raised their security alert status to the highest level after a series of bomb attacks on May 13, while new bombings were reported in East Java.

After a series of consecutive bombings hit three Christian churches in Surabaya, East Java province, leaving at least 13 deaths and over 40 others wounded,  two more bombings occurred also in East Java on late May 13 and early May 14.

The latest bombing targeted the police headquarters in Surabaya city on May 14 morning, injuring several police officers.

Meanwhile, a bomb explosion happened in an apartment building in East Java’s Sidoarjo town on May 13 evening, which killed a mother and her 17-year-old son.

Local news portal Kumparan reported the father, identified as Anton, was holding the trigger to a bomb when police arrived. He was shot dead before he could detonate.

The three other children of the same family were rushed to a local hospital for treatment.

Indonesia police announced on late May 13 that the bombings at three Christian churches were conducted by a family of six, including four children aged 9 to 18.

Speaking with reporters at the regional police headquarters in Surabaya city, East Java police spokesman Frans Burung Mangera said the family had links to the self-claimed Islamic State (IS) and were among 500 Islamic sympathisers who had returned from Syria.

Indonesian government believed that IS-related terror group JAD was responsible for the bombings. Meanwhile, IS claimed responsibility for the attacks through its Amaq news agency.-VNA